London  - British Broadcasting Corporation BBC in a terse announcement Sunday said its correspondent in Tehran has been asked to leave.

"With regret, Jon Leyne, the BBC's permanent correspondent in Tehran, has been asked to leave by the Iranian authorities," the BBC said.

"The BBC office remains open."

Further details were not immediately available in the development, news of which had begun to leak out of Tehran via non-media channels of information over the previous few hours.

The expulsion of the BBC correspondent comes amid the overall clampdown on foreign news media in their effort to try to cover the protests and street violence in Iran in the wake of the controversial June 12 presidential election. (dpa )